President Donald Trump is openly wondering what happened to the collection of officials he described only five months ago as the "finest group of people ever assembled" as members of his Cabinet find themselves embroiled in ethics scandals or woefully at odds with the White House.
He has complained in recent days that his Cabinet has fallen well short of his expectations and wants to purge all the "deadweight," one official said.
He fired one of those people -- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson -- on Tuesday. And he's grown increasingly frustrated with at least two others, according to people familiar with the matter: Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and Housing and Urban Development chief Ben Carson.
Trump signals wider senior staff shake-up soon
Trump signals wider senior staff shake-up soon
A third, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, caused alarm at the White House earlier this week when she appeared on television and wasn't able to answer basic questions about the country's schools. And two other Cabinet-level officials -- national security adviser H.R. McMaster and chief of staff John Kelly -- are both rumored to be heading toward the exits.
Trump's frustration with Shulkin appears to be the most strident. People familiar with the matter said Trump is making plans to remove Shulkin from his post after parallel events brought his agency into turmoil: an ethics scandal involving a trip to Europe with his wife and an internal insurrection from members of his own staff. Trump has eyed Energy Secretary Rick Perry as a possible replacement, a person familiar with the matter said, though it's far from clear whether Perry is interested in moving...
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